HTTP Methods Reference
A searchable reference for the nine HTTP request methods defined by RFC 9110. Each row flags whether the method is safe, idempotent and cacheable, whether it usually carries a request or response body, and gives a plain sentence on what it is for. Type a method name or a word from a description to filter the table instantly.
How to use the HTTP methods table
- Type a method name or keyword into the search box, such as GET, tunnel or cors.
- Watch the counter under the box, which reads how many of the nine methods match.
- Scan the Safe, Idempotent and Cacheable columns, which show Yes or No for each method.
- Check the Request body and Response body columns to see which methods carry data.
- Read the description at the end of each row to confirm the intended purpose.
- Clear the search box to bring the full list of nine methods back.
Examples
Find the method that opens a tunnel
tunnel
1 of 9 methods: CONNECT, which establishes a tunnel to the server, typically for HTTPS through a proxy.
Search for the CORS preflight method
cors
1 of 9 methods: OPTIONS, safe and idempotent, used to describe the communication options for the target.
Look up POST by name
POST
1 of 9 methods: POST, not safe, not idempotent and not cacheable, carrying both a request and a response body.
Frequently asked questions
What does idempotent mean for an HTTP method?
An idempotent method leaves the server in the same state whether you send the request once or many times. GET, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, OPTIONS and TRACE are idempotent, while POST, PATCH and CONNECT are not. Idempotency is what makes a client safe to retry a failed request.
What is a safe HTTP method?
A safe method is read-only and is not meant to change server state. In this table GET, HEAD, OPTIONS and TRACE are safe. Every safe method is also idempotent, but the reverse is not true, since PUT and DELETE are idempotent yet change data.
Which HTTP methods are cacheable?
Only GET and HEAD are marked cacheable here, matching the defaults in RFC 9110. Responses to other methods can be stored only with explicit freshness headers, which is uncommon in practice, so the table shows them as No.
What is the difference between PUT and PATCH?
PUT replaces the whole resource with the body you send and is idempotent, so repeating it lands on the same result. PATCH applies a partial change and is not idempotent, because a relative edit like incrementing a value compounds if it runs twice.
Why do HEAD rows show no response body?
HEAD is identical to GET but returns only the headers, so the Response body column reads No. It is handy for checking the size, type or freshness of a resource without downloading it.
How does the search box match methods?
It filters on both the method name and the words in each description, case-insensitively. Searching a property name like idempotent returns nothing, because those are shown as Yes or No columns rather than words in the description text.
What is the CONNECT method used for?
CONNECT asks a proxy to open a raw tunnel to a destination server, most often to carry HTTPS traffic through a forward proxy. It is not safe, idempotent or cacheable, and it does not carry a request body.
Are these the only HTTP methods that exist?
These nine are the core methods registered by RFC 9110. Extensions such as WebDAV add verbs like PROPFIND and MKCOL, and some APIs invent custom methods, but the nine here cover the vast majority of everyday web traffic.
Is anything I search sent to a server?
No. The full table ships with the page and all filtering happens in your browser, so your searches never leave the device. The tool also exposes a public JSON API if you want to query the same data programmatically.
Learn more
- Safe vs Idempotent HTTP Methods Explained
What safe and idempotent really mean in RFC 9110, why they are not the same property, and how each one shapes caching and retry behaviour.
Related tools
HTTP Header Reference
Searchable reference of common HTTP request and response headers. See direction, category, a clear description and a real example for each header.
HTTP Status Codes
Searchable list of HTTP status codes from 1xx to 5xx. Look up any code by number or name and see what 200, 301, 404 and 500 mean.
HTTP Header Builder
Build CORS, cache and security response headers, then copy them as raw HTTP, Nginx add_header or Apache Header set lines. Runs in your browser.
.env to JSON
Convert a .env file to JSON, or JSON back to .env. Parses KEY=value lines, comments, quotes and export. Runs entirely in your browser.
ASCII Table
Full ASCII table for all 128 codes with decimal, hex, octal and binary values, character names and descriptions. Search by code, hex or character.
Aspect Ratio Box Generator
Generate CSS for a responsive aspect-ratio container. Use the modern aspect-ratio property or the padding-top fallback, then copy the ready code.